Epicenter – Podcast on Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies

Support the show, consider donating: 1M4uVFEs7Ug9y5K35ynLJ5znEtxfrtCQ8d (http://bit.ly/1O3JyUy) For orthodox Bitcoiners central banks are often seen as the incarnation of evil. But , alas, in the case of two Carribean central banking economists the feeling of reprehension wasn't reciprocated. Winston Moore and Jeremy Stephen were formerly associated with the Central Bank of Barados and fascinated by the potential of cryptocurrencies, they explored the consequences of their central bank holding Bitcoin as part of their international reserves. They joined us for a discussion of central banking, the pecularities of monetary policy in a small island nation and what Bitcoin could bring to the equation. Topics covered included: - The function of central banks - The role international reserves hold for central banks - The peculiar challenges of central banks of small island nation states - How speculative attacks on central banks work - Why central banks may want to hold cryptocurrencies as part of their portfolio - How Bitt plans to issue Barbados Dollar using the Bitcoin blockchain and the open asset protocol Links mentioned in this episode: - Paper on inclusion of cryptocurrencies in international reserve portfolio of Central Bank of Barbados [PDF] http://bit.ly/1TZ5usp - Barbados Cryptocurrency Startup Bitt http://bit.ly/21gzMpV - Bitt launches Barbados Dollar on blockchain http://bit.ly/1paq3FS - Winston Moore's Website http://bit.ly/24LBnsm - Jeremy Stephen's Website http://bit.ly/1Ym5vWC - EB Episode 83 with David Andolfatto on Fedcoin and central bank issued cryptocurrencies http://bit.ly/1W2Isib Sponsors: - Hide.me: Protect your privacy and personal data with a free VPN account at Hide.me/epicenter Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/121 YouTube: https://youtu.be/8v0WCo1zGkU Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy. - Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com - Subscribe to our newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter - Twitter: http://twitter.com/epicenterbtc

For orthodox Bitcoiners central banks are often seen as the incarnation of evil. But , alas, in the case of two Carribean central banking economists the feeling of reprehension wasn’t reciprocated. Winston Moore and Jeremy Stephen were formerly associated with the Central Bank of Barados and fascinated by the potential of cryptocurrencies, they explored the … Continued

Support the show, consider donating: 19ACvaz7TKaMmJ9W1tsTELUv2rK9R5YbZP (http://bit.ly/1Jvi5QP) The problem around content monetization is one which content producers are constantly trying to solve. At the core of this problem is a mismatch between supply and demand. Content, which is increasingly abundant, is captured by human attention, which is in limited supply. The volume of content being produced is growing at staggering rates while total human attention remains flat. Our guest, Maciej Olpinski, argues that the current content monetization model is outdated, broken and is in need of an overhaul. Previously at Google and YouTube, Maciej has a broad understanding content monetization models and lays out a vision for open marketplaces for attention using blockchains. He argues that content discovery systems like the Google Page Rank algorithm and Facebook's News Feed could be replaced by open networks based on the mechanics of Bitcoin. Topics covered in this episode include: - How the current content monetization model works and why it's broken - The inner workings of content discovery - The economics of content discovery - Open marketplaces for attention and reputation - New web-native business models for content discovery Links mentioned in this episode: - Maciej's blog http://www.maciejolpinski.com/ Sponsors: - GTEC: Apply now to enter the GTEC Blockchain Contest and win prizes worth €50k epicenterbitcoin.com/gtec - Hide.me: Protect your privacy and personal data with a free VPN account at Hide.me/epicenter Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/120 SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin/eb-120 Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy. - Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com - Subscribe to our newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter - Twitter: http://twitter.com/epicenterbtc

The problem around content monetization is one which content producers are constantly trying to solve. At the core of this problem is a mismatch between supply and demand. Content, which is increasingly abundant, is captured by human attention, which is in limited supply. The volume of content being produced is growing at staggering rates while … Continued

Support the show, consider donating: 1E4wyGGWVanUqbGxZvy3PTg2FtxSre7YqX (http://bit.ly/1PMCqNV) A pioneering feature of Bitcoin is verifiability of transactions: It is designed to enable low-power devices and high end computers alike to be able to verify occurrences on the blockchain. This observation led our guest, Adam Gibson, to wonder why webpages aren't so easily verifiable as a Bitcoin transaction? Can I prove to you that I have certain bank account balance over the internet? Why do we submit photocopies of passports rather than furnishing a cryptographically verifiable proof of citizenship by logging on to a Government site? Born out of this intellectual itch is the TLS Notary protocol. It pioneers a new kind of auditing that enables participants to prove that a certain https page was in their browser. This protocol paves the way to brilliant designs for Proof of Reserves, Smart contract oracles and Decentralised fiat-to-bitcoin exchange. Topics covered included: - Why is the current Web structured to be not easily verifiable? - What is TLS and how does it work? - How TLS differs from SSL. - The TLS Notary protocol - Capabilities and limitations of TLS Notary. - Applications of TLS Notary including provably honest smart contract oracles. Links mentioned in this episode: - The TLS Notary website: https://tlsnotary.org/ - Oraclize, the provably honest oracle service: http://www.oraclize.it/ - The TLS specification (TLS 1.0 RFC 2246): https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2246.txt Sponsors: - Ledger Nano: Smart card security for your Bitcoins - Get 10% off your first order when you use the code EPICENTER at http://ledgerwallet.com - GTEC: Apply now to enter the GTEC Blockchain Contest and win prizes worth €50k http://epicenterbitcoin.com/gtec Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/119 YouTube: https://youtu.be/MVjTOZ_lJ30 Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy. - Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com - Subscribe to our newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter - Twitter: http://twitter.com/epicenterbtc

A pioneering feature of Bitcoin is verifiability of transactions: It is designed to enable low-power devices and high end computers alike to be able to verify occurrences on the blockchain. This observation led our guest, Adam Gibson, to wonder why webpages aren’t so easily verifiable as a Bitcoin transaction? Can I prove to you that … Continued

Support the show, consider donating: 1MRWvkHvzpZKVAbpx4eqVPwgkV6vQgjZbK (http://bit.ly/23BZ59I) A typical online transaction today isn't very different from how it was done 25 years ago at the dawn of the Internet. In fact, online payments haven't changed much at all. When we want to pay for something online, we copy very sensitive credit card information into a form on a website and trust that website to capture it securely and make proper use of it. If this seems like an old and antiquated way to pay, that's because it is, and it costs billions of dollars per year in security and fraud prevention. The World Wide Web Consortium wants to standardize the way we pay online, making it more secure, and hopefully a better experience for users. Manu Sporney is a computer scientists and Standards Lead at the W3C. We talk about some of the core problems with dealing with credentials on the web and making online payments. Specifically, we discuss the Web Payments Working Group (WPWG), and their efforts to bring banks, payments providers and browser manufacturers together to converge around a standard set APIs to make for a better and more secure payment experience for all users. Topics discussed include: - Manu's interest in Bitcoin and blockchains - His role in building the JSON-LD standard - What is the W3C, what are it's roles and how does it operate - The level of interaction between the Bitcoin community and the W3C - The fundamental problems of dematerialised payments online - What it means to standardize payments online - The Interledger Payments Community Group - Manu's company Digital Bazaar Links mentioned in this episode: - Web Payments at the W3C: https://www.w3.org/Payments/ - Digital Bazaar: http://digitalbazaar.com/ Sponsors: - Hide.me: Protect your privacy and personal data with a free VPN account at Hide.me/epicenter Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/118 YouTube: https://youtu.be/rExVUZ2czPs Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy. - Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com - Subscribe to our newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter - Twitter: http://twitter.com/epicenterbtc

A typical online transaction today isn’t very different from how it was done 25 years ago at the dawn of the Internet. In fact, online payments haven’t changed much at all. When we want to pay for something online, we copy very sensitive credit card information into a form on a website and trust that … Continued

Support the show, consider donating: 18DRrNBo9JPKEKYj13Y6xiaQw5AL4S6K4c (http://bit.ly/1SqemXh) In the midst of the heated blocksize debate one could be forgiven to think that there is very little Bitcoin developers are able to agree on. Yet, when core developer and Blockstream co-founder Pieter Wuille introduced the concept of segregated witness at the Scaling Bitcoin conference in Hong Kong most of the Bitcoin community quickly rallied behind the proposal. Eric Lombrozo, CEO of wallet company Ciphrex and responsible for running the segregated witness testnet, joined us to discuss the proposal and its implications. Segregated witness, it turns out, does not only provide an elegant way to increase the blocksize via a soft-fork, it also solves transaction malleability and greatly simplifies updating the Bitcoin's scripting language. It's a crucial topic and may well enable a new wave of accelerated innovation in Bitcoin. Topics covered included: - The various benefits of segregated witness - The mechanics of segregated witness - How segregated witness solves transaction malleability - How segregated witness could increase the blocksize to 2-3MB with a soft fork - What segregated witness means for wallet developers - How segregated witness could facilitate development of off-chain networks such as Lightning Network - The important difference between hard forks and soft forks - How segregated witness will allow updates of Bitcoin's script language via soft forks Links mentioned in this episode: - Scaling Bitcoin Talk by Pieter Wuille http://bit.ly/1RhgRKA - Let's Talk Bitcoin! #277 Separating Signatures with Segregated Witness http://bit.ly/1SaELZi - Gavin Andresen: Segregated Witness is Cool http://bit.ly/1RhgOyh - Bitcoin Magazine Series on Segregated Witness Part 1: http://bit.ly/1PgyFD8 Part 2: http://bit.ly/1SYEK9K Part 3: http://bit.ly/23Soo7H - Eric Lombrozo's company Ciphrex: http://bit.ly/1T83Bcs Sponsors: - Ledger Nano: Smart card security for your Bitcoins - Get 10% off your first order when you use the code EPICENTER at http://ledgerwallet.com Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/117 YouTube: https://youtu.be/iipca5gmcT8 Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy. - Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com - Subscribe to our newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter - Twitter: http://twitter.com/epicenterbtc

In the midst of the heated blocksize debate one could be forgiven to think that there is very little Bitcoin developers are able to agree on. Yet, when core developer and Blockstream co-founder Pieter Wuille introduced the concept of segregated witness at the Scaling Bitcoin conference in Hong Kong most of the Bitcoin community quickly … Continued

Support the show, consider donating: 1HegW9VsiMn9BUWdcV6kNS1eTAWjKPKtYe (http://bit.ly/1SWCP5T) Zero Knowledge Proofs are methods of providing cryptographic proofs to another party while keeping some information secret. The simple concept of ZKP offer tantalizing possibilities: Banks could prove solvency without revealing depositors. Governments could prove the fairness of an election without compromising privacy. Computer science professor Eli Ben-Sasson joined us to discuss where blockchains and cryptocurrencies intersect with Zero Knowledge Proofs and related technologies such as zkSNARKs. It offered a fascinating view into what will surely become a core part of blockchain tech in the future. Topics covered included: - What are proof systems? - Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZKP) and other terminology such as SNARKs and zkSNARKs - The mechanics of Zero Knowledge Proofs - The role of performance in Zero Knowledge Proofs - Applications of ZKPs - The widespread potential impact of ZKP to verify processes Links mentioned in this episode: - Eli Ben-Sasson's Website http://bit.ly/1PbbK9O - SNARKs for C talk by Madars Virza http://bit.ly/1PQFoah - Stackexchange: What are SNARKs http://bit.ly/1UEcqbq - SNARKs for C paper [PDF] http://bit.ly/20Cse26 - Zerocash Talk http://bit.ly/1Puy2He Sponsors: - Hide.me: Protect your privacy and personal data with a free VPN account at Hide.me/epicenter Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/116 YouTube: https://youtu.be/1GTRfZ0m7M8 SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin/eb-116 Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy. - Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com - Subscribe to our newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter - Twitter: http://twitter.com/epicenterbtc

Zero Knowledge Proofs are methods of providing cryptographic proofs to another party while keeping some information secret. The simple concept of ZKP offer tantalizing possibilities: Banks could prove solvency without revealing depositors. Governments could prove the fairness of an election without compromising privacy. Computer science professor Eli Ben-Sasson joined us to discuss where blockchains and … Continued

Support the show, consider donating: 12nTPUunDNLqyxxTMsCGghqND1MUYGgFEk (http://bit.ly/1Ozq0ci) The idea that in the future tokens will play a crucial role in networks and organizations to incentivize decentralized collaboration and reward contribution is not new. It's the original decentralized autonomous organization idea that has informed many projects that have been on the podcast (Swarm, Ethereum, Factom, Storj, etc). For Matan, the vision originally led to found decentralized ride-sharing application LaZooz. One year ago, he left LaZooz to found Backfeed, which is building the tools that so far have been missing to make mass collaboration without a central party possible. Topics covered included: - How he became interested in blockchains and started the ridesharing application LaZooz - Backfeed's vision for a social operating system for decentralized organizations - The role of reputation, proof-of-value and tokens in Backfeed - The applications Backfeed is currently building - The business of model of Backfeed Links mentioned in this episode: - Backfeed website http://bit.ly/1TkgZJw - Backfeed: An Introduction for Mere Mortals http://bit.ly/1nuzS0B - Matan Field DevCon Talk about Backfeed http://bit.ly/1UmNogV Sponsors: - Ledger Nano: Smart card security for your Bitcoins - Get 10% off your first order when you use the code EPICENTER at http://ledgerwallet.com - Hide.me: Protect your privacy and personal data with a free VPN account at Hide.me/epicenter Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/115 YouTube: https://youtu.be/SsCxgez1XBo SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin/eb-115 Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy. - Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com - Subscribe to our newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter - Twitter: http://twitter.com/epicenterbtc

Vinay Gupta has been a programmer, 1990s cypherpunk, ‘resilience guru’, Ethereum release coordinator and currently collaborates with Consensys to mainstream smart contract technology. He also invented the Hexayurt, a cheap and resilient architectural structure for disaster-stricken communities. Recently, Vinay has become a thought leader in the cryptocurrency space. He is famed for his eloquence and … Continued

Support the show, consider donating: 1L94F3FJcSqCqx1F11nXbhRM7f8pj6PDm2 (http://bit.ly/1PzJOw5) Vinay Gupta has been a programmer, 1990s cypherpunk, 'resilience guru', Ethereum release coordinator and currently collaborates with Consensys to mainstream smart contract technology. He also invented the Hexayurt, a cheap and resilient architectural structure for disaster-stricken communities. Recently, Vinay has become a thought leader in the cryptocurrency space. He is famed for his eloquence and ability to distill the crypto-finance technological paradigm into easy big-picture visualisations. Check out this podcast for some unique insights into technology, politics and history. Topics covered included: - His work on resilience. The connection between resilience and cryptocurrencies - A history of the cypherpunks - who they were, what they believed in and why they failed. - Why smart contracts matter? What is special about them? - The impact cryptocurrencies will have on capitalism - Why cryptocurrencies could be a great tool to explore basic income Links mentioned in this episode: - Vinay Gupta - Dangerous Old Men: cypherpunk's failure, Ethereum's success http://bit.ly/1ZHGlpU - Vinay Gupta - Resilience Guru | London Real http://bit.ly/1Ss64xT - Simple Critical Infrastructure Maps http://bit.ly/1n6U3Rw - Vinay Gupta | Computers that just work | State of the Net 2015 http://bit.ly/1lo7HOV - Vinay's site re.silience.com http://bit.ly/1QiSA6g Sponsors: - Hide.me: Protect your privacy and personal data with a free VPN account at Hide.me/epicenter Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/114 YouTube: https://youtu.be/hTuGoRdm5wo Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy. - Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com - Subscribe to our newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter - Twitter: http://twitter.com/epicenterbtc